Fractured limbs, split lips, gashes to the head and severe bruising are just some of the injuries that have befallen shoppers trying to navigate a dangerous stretch of Totnes town centre.

Alan Carter has witnessed “countless” accidents outside his Fusion shop in Fore Street, where the pavement disappears and becomes a narrow kerb, just wide enough for one person to walk along.

The most distressing accidents have involved elderly and disabled people in wheelchairs and electric buggies, and tots in pushchairs, Alan said.

Only a couple of weeks ago Alan ran to help a disabled pensioner whose mobility scooter had toppled into the busy road after the man was forced to drive it over the edge of the kerb.

Multiple-sclerosis sufferer, David Thompson, visiting the town on holiday, came crashing down and landed on top of his scooter’s armrest.

David was left “badly shaken” by the experience which replayed in his head for several days afterwards.

“I would imagine what could have been – a car driving into me as I lay on the road, with no help from passers-by,” he said.

The worst accident Alan has witnessed involved an elderly couple who were forced to step off the slender kerb and into the road.

“The lady tripped up, she landed on her arm and it snapped in two,” he recalled.

“Her husband looked down at her and at the sight of it he fainted, landed on top of her and cracked his head open.

He continued: “I had one lady in here, when she landed on her chin her teeth went through her lip.

“I’ve seen it all, it’s been continuous.

“I’ve had my shop 28 years now and there has been accident, after accident, after accident, and it’s all caused by the same reason – because the path disappears.

“The most recent involving the man in his mobility scooter – it could have killed him.”

Alan says Devon County Council removed the section of path some 20 odd years ago when they reversed the one-way system in South Street opposite his shop, and cars needed a wider swing to turn left into it.

He said: “There’s just enough room for one person to walk on it, but it’s like they are on a tightrope wire.

“It’s not wide enough for pushchairs, wheelchairs, and electric scooters. They have to go down the kerb – it isn’t a huge drop, it’s only about three or four inches - but it’s enough to topple them because they have to go over it at an angle.”

Alan is demanding the council takes action to ensure the safety of shoppers by either reversing the one-way system in South Street and reinstating the pavement, or turning the drop of the kerb into a ramp.

“Something needs to be done. Someone snapping their arm in two, her husband laying on top of her – it was horrible,” he said.

“This poor man who fell over in his electric scooter was quite shaken up. His voice went all quivery. It made me want to cry hearing someone’s voice like that, when someone is disabled.

“It’s horrible when you see old people get hurt so regularly.

“It’s ridiculously unsafe.”

Totnes town councillor, Georgina Allen, pressed for urgent action.

“It’s very dangerous, people are being injured. We need Devon County Council to step up and sort this out.

“Wheelchair users have to come off the pavement into the road but then they can’t actually get back on the pavement again until much further down the road – they are stuck in the busy road.”

Devon County Council says it is aware of the “difficulties” wheelchair users have in the town centre but currently have no plans to alter the road.

A spokesman added: “We have explored the possibility of pedestrianising Totnes town centre but this did not receive local support and wasn’t progressed.

“Unfortunately, there is no scope to widen the footway at this location due to lack of space and although the possibility of a dropped kerb can be investigated, consideration must be given to the issue of surface water.”